Yesterday we attended a funeral for a lady who used to live just a few miles (through the hills) from us. We farmed their place for them for a few years until they sold it to our new friends and neighbors, John and Holly, and we still farm it for them. We've lost so many of the older folks in our neighborhood, and it's always sad to lose that history.
While at the luncheon afterward, I ran into an old friend from college. We lived across the hall from each other in the dorm when we were freshmen. She grew up between Scobey and Wolf Point and gets back once in awhile to visit her parents so I've seen her a few times in the years since college. Her brother is married to the daughter of the lady who had passed away. Yes, small world sometimes. Anyway, we had a good visit comparing our lives, discussing empty nesting and raising boys (she has 3). It is so fun to reconnect with someone from the past and find out about their life now. And, best of all, she told me I hadn't aged a bit. I think she lies....
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Feels Like Winter
So much for our unseasonably warm and dry winter. Yesterday we had all the makings of a winter day--cold temps, snow and wind. It was about -10 when we went to feed yesterday. I made sure I was bundled up and it wasn't so bad. Just my toes got a little cold. M had his weekly night out to play darts last night and it was -15 when he got home....but -24 when we got up this morning. Brrrrrrr!!!
He had forgotten to plug in his bale pickup when he got home last night ( I distracted him with taking the grand-dog out to potty) so plugged it in first thing this morning and let it warm up for an hour or so. And the temp warmed up to about -20 by the time we headed out. We worked quickly and could mostly stay in the pickup except to cut the net wrap so it wasn't so bad. Thankfully, there was no wind.
M hasn't left the house since we got back from feeding so I'm making him do some paperwork and clean out some files. I've got to take advantage whenever I can pin him down.
J and K picked a good time to be in the Bahamas. It's always more fun to be somewhere tropical when you know the weather is crappy at home. Their little Piper, a Morkie puppy, is staying with us while they are gone. Poor thing doesn't know what to do in the cold weather. She's shivering so hard when she goes outside that she can't even begin to think about peeing, and even Pete, who doesn't like being indoors that much, is thinking the house is a good place to hang out.
He had forgotten to plug in his bale pickup when he got home last night ( I distracted him with taking the grand-dog out to potty) so plugged it in first thing this morning and let it warm up for an hour or so. And the temp warmed up to about -20 by the time we headed out. We worked quickly and could mostly stay in the pickup except to cut the net wrap so it wasn't so bad. Thankfully, there was no wind.
M hasn't left the house since we got back from feeding so I'm making him do some paperwork and clean out some files. I've got to take advantage whenever I can pin him down.
J and K picked a good time to be in the Bahamas. It's always more fun to be somewhere tropical when you know the weather is crappy at home. Their little Piper, a Morkie puppy, is staying with us while they are gone. Poor thing doesn't know what to do in the cold weather. She's shivering so hard when she goes outside that she can't even begin to think about peeing, and even Pete, who doesn't like being indoors that much, is thinking the house is a good place to hang out.
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| Pete and Piper soaking up some sun |
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Feeding Frenzy
M has been trying to convince me for weeks that I can do the feeding by myself. I was pretty sure I could but gave him my skeptical look. My theory has always been that it's never wise to know too much or be able to do too much or you're going to be stuck doing it forever. K has already picked up on that and our mantra is "play dumb". In my case, it never seems to work. It finally just gets to the point where M gives me no choice and throws me into the deep end. Probably a wise move on his part.
So, he informed me that I needed to feed while he took a load of grain to Wolf Point, came back to Richland, switched trucks, and headed to Glasgow to pick up a load of cows for a neighbor. Okay, so he was a lot busier than I was. He said I only needed to feed a couple of bales and we'd do the rest when he got back since he would need to start the tractor anyway to put a bale in the pen for our heifer calves. No problem.
Pete and I headed out and I grabbed up two big round bales with the bale pickup with no problem. I dropped the first one and rolled it out easily. Then I tried to take the second one off and it somehow got crooked and ended up almost sideways on the bed. I tried to grab it again but it was blocking the arm on one side and then the other side wouldn't catch it--and I tried multiple times. I tried to bounce across the frozen cow turds to maybe bounce it off or at least move it to a better position. No luck. I headed up a hill hoping it would roll off. Nope, that didn't work either. Then I thought that maybe if I picked up another bale it would push that one into position so off I went to the stack to grab another bale. That plan did not work either--the bale did not budge. Next plan, cut the wrap and see if it falls apart since that sometimes happens. Unsuccessful. I was beginning to think the only solution was to start the tractor and use it to pick the bale off the bed of the pickup, but I was determined that I wasn't going to leave it that way for M to find. So, I climbed on the bed and start throwing off chunks of hay. In the meantime, the cows were looking at me with that "what the hell?" look in their eyes, thinking they were never going to get fed. I would throw hay off and then move the pickup and throw more hay off. I was thinking I needed to go to the barn and get a pitchfork when I tried one more time to pick it up. I had moved enough hay that the arms were able to come down enough to finally pick it up and get it to the ground. Thank goodness, because by that time was I pooped.
I then had to take buckets of feed to the pens and feed the cats, my regular chores. By that time it had started to snow, and I was ready to go home. Of course, as I told M my predicament he just laughed and said, "that happens sometimes". But, he brought me Jerry's Special pizza from town as a reward so it's all good.
So, he informed me that I needed to feed while he took a load of grain to Wolf Point, came back to Richland, switched trucks, and headed to Glasgow to pick up a load of cows for a neighbor. Okay, so he was a lot busier than I was. He said I only needed to feed a couple of bales and we'd do the rest when he got back since he would need to start the tractor anyway to put a bale in the pen for our heifer calves. No problem.
Pete and I headed out and I grabbed up two big round bales with the bale pickup with no problem. I dropped the first one and rolled it out easily. Then I tried to take the second one off and it somehow got crooked and ended up almost sideways on the bed. I tried to grab it again but it was blocking the arm on one side and then the other side wouldn't catch it--and I tried multiple times. I tried to bounce across the frozen cow turds to maybe bounce it off or at least move it to a better position. No luck. I headed up a hill hoping it would roll off. Nope, that didn't work either. Then I thought that maybe if I picked up another bale it would push that one into position so off I went to the stack to grab another bale. That plan did not work either--the bale did not budge. Next plan, cut the wrap and see if it falls apart since that sometimes happens. Unsuccessful. I was beginning to think the only solution was to start the tractor and use it to pick the bale off the bed of the pickup, but I was determined that I wasn't going to leave it that way for M to find. So, I climbed on the bed and start throwing off chunks of hay. In the meantime, the cows were looking at me with that "what the hell?" look in their eyes, thinking they were never going to get fed. I would throw hay off and then move the pickup and throw more hay off. I was thinking I needed to go to the barn and get a pitchfork when I tried one more time to pick it up. I had moved enough hay that the arms were able to come down enough to finally pick it up and get it to the ground. Thank goodness, because by that time was I pooped.
I then had to take buckets of feed to the pens and feed the cats, my regular chores. By that time it had started to snow, and I was ready to go home. Of course, as I told M my predicament he just laughed and said, "that happens sometimes". But, he brought me Jerry's Special pizza from town as a reward so it's all good.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
This is January?!?
My mom informed me that I'd been slacking on my blogging so here I am again (she didn't really use those words, but I got the drift). Nothing terribly fun or exciting has been happening here. R has gone back to school (sad face) and we are just back to the grind. We have our routine of cow chores in the morning. M, J and C have been hauling grain but it's very hit and miss when the elevator can take it. They were closed for several weeks due to railroad track repairs, then the holidays, so the guys are trying to get as much hauled in as they can before they get shut down again while the elevator is loading a train.
M made a road trip to Conrad and back on Friday (700 miles roundtrip) to pick up a header he had bought months ago online. He thought he'd better go get it while the roads and weather were good. I think he spends too much time at online equipment sites because he and J also purchased a telehandler. I'll post pictures when that arrives. J has been wanting one for years and finally convinced his dad it would be a good thing.
All anyone can talk about around here is the unusual January weather. We had temps in the 40's several days and last week the temperature hit 50 degrees. It felt like spring, and we had water running like crazy. It cooled off a bit the next day, though. so now we have lots of ice. Not good for the cows...or me. I'm constantly afraid that I'm going to fall and bust my butt! Not sure that would help my back problem. Our relatives in Florida are wanting their weather back and think that they got ours. It was actually colder there than it was here last week.
We have a busy week ahead. They are still trying to haul grain and M has to take two cows to the butcher tomorrow--one is R's open heifer that we are selling to friends and one is a cow that was open last year, got a reprieve and was open again. You can imagine that she is nice and fat and should keep us in hamburger for quite awhile. Then on Tuesday we head to Billings for an appointment with my back doctor. Really hoping I won't have to have surgery again, but I'm betting that I will. C sees the doctor on Thursday to schedule surgery on his shoulder, and J and K head to the Bahamas for a two-week honeymoon. Sounds like it's going to be hard to get any work out of anyone for awhile.
M made a road trip to Conrad and back on Friday (700 miles roundtrip) to pick up a header he had bought months ago online. He thought he'd better go get it while the roads and weather were good. I think he spends too much time at online equipment sites because he and J also purchased a telehandler. I'll post pictures when that arrives. J has been wanting one for years and finally convinced his dad it would be a good thing.
All anyone can talk about around here is the unusual January weather. We had temps in the 40's several days and last week the temperature hit 50 degrees. It felt like spring, and we had water running like crazy. It cooled off a bit the next day, though. so now we have lots of ice. Not good for the cows...or me. I'm constantly afraid that I'm going to fall and bust my butt! Not sure that would help my back problem. Our relatives in Florida are wanting their weather back and think that they got ours. It was actually colder there than it was here last week.
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| Water running in January |
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| M's new trailer--he's never had a new one before so he deserved it |
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Weird Christmas
This has been a bit of weird Christmas holiday for me. When we built our house in 1995 my mother-in-law told me I had to have every holiday for the next 20 years. I don't think my 20 years are up yet, but this year she told me everything would happen at her new (to her) house in town. Since I was gone for the first 18 days of the month that was really okay with me, but it meant that I didn't put up one decoration (I didn't have time even if I had wanted to), had no visitors at my house, and didn't even have to cook. I did make my famous broccoli casserole to contribute to Christmas day dinner and did make sugar cookies and gingerbread men at my mother-in-law's house so my great niece could help me (she lost interest pretty quickly as a 4-year-old will do). Add to that the beautiful weather we've been having with warm temperatures and no snow and it all compounded into a very odd Christmas. I didn't even have time to get close to my piano during the festive season. That NEVER happens.
M's sister and family and R were here for the week before Christmas so we were in town to see them every day. That was almost more exhausting than getting my house ready for company and cooking. Too much food, too much drink and irregular hours sure wiped me out. Maybe I will perk up by next year and have a more normal holiday.
M's sister and family and R were here for the week before Christmas so we were in town to see them every day. That was almost more exhausting than getting my house ready for company and cooking. Too much food, too much drink and irregular hours sure wiped me out. Maybe I will perk up by next year and have a more normal holiday.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Where Ya Been?
Wow, it's been a month since I've blogged. I did try a couple of times but couldn't do it on my husband's or my mom's laptops. I have to say, it's been a crazy month and I have been BUSY!
We went to Rapid City to spend Thanksgiving with R and M's sister and her family. My in-laws were also there. We even ventured out a little on Black Friday, and it wasn't so bad. I thought we were probably the only people shopping for livestock trailers on Black Friday. We came home on Saturday and arrived in Scobey just in time for the parade of lights. We were home for four days and then headed out for our vacation to the big island of Hawaii. We spent a week there and had a wonderful, relaxing time. M rented a Jeep and had way too much fun with it. He went quickly from wanting to buy me a Cadillac to wanting to buy me a Jeep. It would be an ideal cow-checking, run-to-the-field vehicle. He's been shopping for one since he's been home. We put 900 miles on our rental and saw just about the whole island. I think we only missed the southeast corner. We didn't do a few things we wanted to do like go up Mauna Kea and go parasailing. Maybe next time. I haven't had time to go through my photos yet. I didn't think I took very many but when I downloaded them to my computer I had 116!
We arrived back in Billings at about 11:30 pm on Dec. 10. M headed home on the 11th while I flew to Arizona to spend time with my mom during her recovery from hip replacement surgery. She didn't really need me except that she wasn't supposed to drive yet. We had to make sure she could drive before I left and she did and did just fine. She's on her own again now. She continues to amaze us with how well she recovers after surgery. I had some bonding time with my sister as well. We went out to finish her Christmas shopping, went to a movie and spent some time at her house singing Christmas carols and hymns at the piano. We have spent many hours singing together, one of our very favorite things to do. I can't believe her husband said he was glad he wasn't home. Mine said "I'm sorry I missed that." I'm sure he meant that very sincerely--haha!
I flew back into Billings on the 18th. I didn't want M to have to make another trip to Billings to pick me up and have that 5-hour drive (if the roads are good) home so I decided to take the flight from Billings to Glasgow. Bad idea! This was my 7th flight in two weeks so I shouldn't have been surprised that there would be a problem. The flight was supposed to leave at 5:30 pm. We boarded, were informed the plane had a problem with a generator, deplaned and waited and waited and waited. That plane was a no go so they had to get a plane out of the hangar after they finished maintenance on it. By that time it had started to snow so we had to be de-iced before we left--at 10:30 pm. I called M as soon as I knew we weren't flying on schedule and told him I'd call him back when I knew more. He made the mistake of heading to Glasgow before I called him back. He went to get a pizza and have a few beers--I was really afraid he'd be sloshed by the time I got there. He was okay when I finally arrived at midnight. Fell into bed about 1:30 but was up at 7:00 to go to work Monday morning. We had a very busy day at work, but I have to say it was good to be back.
M's family and R from South Dakota arrived Sunday night as well. C and his wife were heading to Hawaii for Christmas with her family on Tuesday so we all had supper together Monday night so that was another late night. I spent Tuesday doing laundry, paying bills and balancing the checkbooks. It was dart night and R was going to fill in for C so I went along. Another late night. Then today we Bang's vaccinated and branded our heifer calves. We like to keep the family busy when they come to visit! We had some hot drinks and then I mixed up cookie dough so it will be ready for tomorrow when I plan to make cut-out cookies with my 4-year-old great niece. It's been a few years since I had a kid to help me make cookies.
Maybe one of these days life will get back to normal and I will get caught up, hopefully on my sleep at least! So, that's where I've been lately.
We went to Rapid City to spend Thanksgiving with R and M's sister and her family. My in-laws were also there. We even ventured out a little on Black Friday, and it wasn't so bad. I thought we were probably the only people shopping for livestock trailers on Black Friday. We came home on Saturday and arrived in Scobey just in time for the parade of lights. We were home for four days and then headed out for our vacation to the big island of Hawaii. We spent a week there and had a wonderful, relaxing time. M rented a Jeep and had way too much fun with it. He went quickly from wanting to buy me a Cadillac to wanting to buy me a Jeep. It would be an ideal cow-checking, run-to-the-field vehicle. He's been shopping for one since he's been home. We put 900 miles on our rental and saw just about the whole island. I think we only missed the southeast corner. We didn't do a few things we wanted to do like go up Mauna Kea and go parasailing. Maybe next time. I haven't had time to go through my photos yet. I didn't think I took very many but when I downloaded them to my computer I had 116!
We arrived back in Billings at about 11:30 pm on Dec. 10. M headed home on the 11th while I flew to Arizona to spend time with my mom during her recovery from hip replacement surgery. She didn't really need me except that she wasn't supposed to drive yet. We had to make sure she could drive before I left and she did and did just fine. She's on her own again now. She continues to amaze us with how well she recovers after surgery. I had some bonding time with my sister as well. We went out to finish her Christmas shopping, went to a movie and spent some time at her house singing Christmas carols and hymns at the piano. We have spent many hours singing together, one of our very favorite things to do. I can't believe her husband said he was glad he wasn't home. Mine said "I'm sorry I missed that." I'm sure he meant that very sincerely--haha!
I flew back into Billings on the 18th. I didn't want M to have to make another trip to Billings to pick me up and have that 5-hour drive (if the roads are good) home so I decided to take the flight from Billings to Glasgow. Bad idea! This was my 7th flight in two weeks so I shouldn't have been surprised that there would be a problem. The flight was supposed to leave at 5:30 pm. We boarded, were informed the plane had a problem with a generator, deplaned and waited and waited and waited. That plane was a no go so they had to get a plane out of the hangar after they finished maintenance on it. By that time it had started to snow so we had to be de-iced before we left--at 10:30 pm. I called M as soon as I knew we weren't flying on schedule and told him I'd call him back when I knew more. He made the mistake of heading to Glasgow before I called him back. He went to get a pizza and have a few beers--I was really afraid he'd be sloshed by the time I got there. He was okay when I finally arrived at midnight. Fell into bed about 1:30 but was up at 7:00 to go to work Monday morning. We had a very busy day at work, but I have to say it was good to be back.
M's family and R from South Dakota arrived Sunday night as well. C and his wife were heading to Hawaii for Christmas with her family on Tuesday so we all had supper together Monday night so that was another late night. I spent Tuesday doing laundry, paying bills and balancing the checkbooks. It was dart night and R was going to fill in for C so I went along. Another late night. Then today we Bang's vaccinated and branded our heifer calves. We like to keep the family busy when they come to visit! We had some hot drinks and then I mixed up cookie dough so it will be ready for tomorrow when I plan to make cut-out cookies with my 4-year-old great niece. It's been a few years since I had a kid to help me make cookies.
Maybe one of these days life will get back to normal and I will get caught up, hopefully on my sleep at least! So, that's where I've been lately.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
From Bad to Worse
Today was our first real cold day of the winter, about -10 this morning, and it did not go well. M went out to start his bale pickup and the battery was dead. So, he started another pickup so he could use it to jump start the bale pickup. It started but wouldn't come out of park. He let it run awhile thinking that maybe if it warmed up it would go into gear--not! Then he started our good pickup which was in the garage, backed it out and jump started the bale pickup. I was watching out the window and told him I didn't think the hood on our good pickup was latched. It wasn't, and it won't latch. Something is wrong with the cable that runs from the cab. Not sure how we're going to fix that. By that time M was a bit upset and cursing the weather.
We went to do cow chores and found all the cows at home crowded around the wind break. M finally felt sorry for them and rolled out a couple of bales of hay. The pickup died, and we had a moment of panic that it wouldn't start again, but it did. A friend showed up to look at some pasture so he and M took off to do that. I was really hoping they wouldn't get stuck somewhere. I didn't want to go rescue them.
They came back for lunch and to watch the Cat-Griz game. The Cats (our team from Montana State) were leading the conference (undefeated in conference play) and ranked #1 in the nation. The Griz are from the University of Montana and if they won would share the conference championship with the Cats. It is a HUGE rivalry in the state, and we Bobcat fans are a bit outnumbered (but a lot nicer). Anyway, the game went from bad to worse and the Cats lost--at home to the rotten Grizzlies. Ruined our whole day!
After the game we put a light fixture in our kitchen that we had gotten in Rapid City a month ago. We are trying to find something to replace our fluorescent fixtures and are not having much luck. We don't think these are going to give enough light so we may be back to square one. I think it's time for wine......
We went to do cow chores and found all the cows at home crowded around the wind break. M finally felt sorry for them and rolled out a couple of bales of hay. The pickup died, and we had a moment of panic that it wouldn't start again, but it did. A friend showed up to look at some pasture so he and M took off to do that. I was really hoping they wouldn't get stuck somewhere. I didn't want to go rescue them.
They came back for lunch and to watch the Cat-Griz game. The Cats (our team from Montana State) were leading the conference (undefeated in conference play) and ranked #1 in the nation. The Griz are from the University of Montana and if they won would share the conference championship with the Cats. It is a HUGE rivalry in the state, and we Bobcat fans are a bit outnumbered (but a lot nicer). Anyway, the game went from bad to worse and the Cats lost--at home to the rotten Grizzlies. Ruined our whole day!
After the game we put a light fixture in our kitchen that we had gotten in Rapid City a month ago. We are trying to find something to replace our fluorescent fixtures and are not having much luck. We don't think these are going to give enough light so we may be back to square one. I think it's time for wine......
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